Auction of lands in Hyderabad to fill up Telangana coffers

Hyderabad: Shifting government offices out of GHMC limits will fetch huge revenues for the Telangana government in the form of “land bank” in prime areas of the city. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had recently announced the government’s decision to build an integrated complex in Erragadda by shifting the Secretariat and all offices of heads of departments (HoDs) located in the GHMC limits.

The government plans to auction the existing office buildings and lands to raise revenues to execute various infrastructure projects with an aim of turning Hyderabad into a “global city”.

Chief secretary Rajiv Sharma had convened an emergency meeting with collectors of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts and GHMC officials last week at the Secretariat to shortlist government offices that could be shifted to the proposed integrated complex.

The Hyderabad and RR district administrations have now identified 436 government offices in GHMC limits that can be shifted, which would result in the availability of over 1,150 acre of prime land in the city. Officials estimated that nearly Rs 10,000 crore could be mobilised through sale of these prime lands.